Lights and Darks
by mirrorballsymphony
Summary: (Previously known as The Decisions) A selection of Carrot/Angua drabbles written to fulfil the lack of CA on fanfiction. Extreme angst, naïveté (on Carrot's part) and fluffiness.
1. Men At Arms

Angua carried on walking over to the bed, and sat down onto what she supposed was her side, wrapping a sheet around her. Carrot stood up from the chair, lifted his chain mail over his head, and came over to sit next to her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

'Angua?'

'Yes?'

'Have you ever died before?'

That was the question he asked? Angua shook her head, internally; she had already realised it wasn't a good idea to do anything like that in front of him.

For a sharp man, she thought, he's remarkably bad at emotions.

'Not that I know of,' she replied, trying to keep a light tone. Her voice cracked half way through, and she rubbed her throat. 'You got a drink?'

Carrot walked over to his desk and unlatched the window, grabbing a glass bottle of milk from the windowsill.

'Doesn't Nobby steal that?'

'He can't reach over the desk.'

He returned, glass in hand, and watched her while she drank it. Beer would have been nice, she thought, or whiskey. An image of Vimes came to mind.

'Carrot? You know Captain Vimes?'

'Yes.' None of them could ever get used to calling him 'Mister'.

'Does he often get drunk?'

Carrot nodded sombrely. 'We thought Lady Sybil might have broken the habit.'

'Why does he do it?'

Carrot's tone was bitter. 'Everyone does, after a while. I've seen you do it; stare into the bottom of a pint glass like you can see the world more clearly, then top it back up again so that you don't have to look anymore.'

Angua nodded. For some people, the only escape they could get was through alcohol. She had never found that it worked.

'Dwarves don't drink, do they?'

Carrot shook his head vehemently. 'Gods, no. Their parents would go crazy.'

'Then why have I seen dwarf bars around?'

Carrot flushed. 'Most of their parents don't see them now. They think they can do anything.'

'Colon said you're a dwarf.'

'I am.'

She breached the subject as carefully as she could. 'You don't really look like the rest of them.'

'Does that matter?'

She was shocked by his curt tone of voice. 'No, I mean, it shouldn't, but you know...'

'Know what?'

She rested her head back on to the stark wooden headboard. 'Doesn't matter.'

He seemed satisfied, and lay back beside her. 'In a way,' he murmured, 'we're both out of place. I'm a six foot six dwarf, and you're a human who ever so often has to turn into a wolf.'

So much for not being good at emotions.

'I guess so,' she said absently. Then, with a more focused tone, she asked the question she had been wanting to ask since she came into the room. 'Does it bother you?'

'Does what?'

She sat back up and looked at him in complete incomprehension. 'Me being a werewolf.'

'No, not really.'

'Why not? You just saw me killed with that gonne thing, as a wolf, then be resurrected and walk back into your room, as a human. That sort of thing would bother most people.'

'Why?'

He genuinely couldn't understand. 'Carrot, I'm a werewolf. Famed for ripping out people's throats and howling at the moon. Nobby nicked a silver spoon from the Assassin's Guild to keep me at bay. After I told him the one he stole from the Fool's Guild was only pewter.'

Carrot turned scarlet, and gritted his teeth as he sat up straight, glaring into the distance. 'Just he waits till I-'

'Wait, Carrot-' she pushed him back against the headboard, '-you care about that?'

'Why wouldn't I? That's just disrespectful.'

'You get used to it. Like Cuddy and that model left in his locker.'

'What was that model of?'

'What?'

'The model. What was it of? I couldn't quite work it out.'

'Wasn't it from a Sonky factory?'

'Can't say I ever saw it there.'

Angua looked up, startled. 'Wait, you've been in the Sonky factory?'

'Of course. There's a museum.'

'What about?' The images flashing through Angua's head were nothing short of traumatising.

'Oh, they had an exhibition on the uses of rubber. Then one on the housing crisis in Ankh-Morpork, but I didn't get the link.' A small crease came between his eyebrows as he furrowed his forehead. 'I think it was because of the jobs provided.'

'Yes. That'd be it.' She exhaled with relief.

'Can't see why they felt the need to give some to me.'

Angua could. She had been approached by Wallace Sonky the day she arrived in Ankh-Morpork, who, thinking she was a seamstress, had pressed a couple on her. She'd told him that she was a watchman, and he'd given her more. They were hidden at the back of a drawer. Stupidly, she had forgotten them.

Still, what are the chances, she thought. Genetics and all that. It couldn't work.

She became aware that Carrot was looking down at her.

'What?'

'You looked sad.'

'Oh.' She leant back onto the pillow. 'Just tired. You'd be amazed what dying does to you.'

He nudged her, and she shifted over a couple of inches so that he could lie down. As she slipped ever so slightly over the edge she yelped, and felt him put his arm across her and pull her back up towards him, dislodging the sheet ever so slightly.

To hell with it, she decided. She leaned closer.

'Carrot?

'Yes?'

'Do you think this could work?'

'Well,' he said slowly. 'I don't see why it couldn't.'

And for just a split second, neither could Angua.


	2. Men At Arms 2

**This pretty much follows on from the first chapter, and is set at the reception of Vimes and Sybil's wedding at the end of Men At Arms. Cue some awkward questions and leering (especially from Nobby, who can leer like nobody's business).**

**Thank you for reviews/faves etc. J**

'Carrot?'

'Yes?'

'What time's the reception for the wedding?'

Carrot rolled over and glanced at his watch. 'In about half an hour. Shall we go.'

Angua sighed. 'Might as well.'

'We don't have to, you know. We could go and see some of the museums, or I could show you some of the landmarks.'

'Ankh-Morpork has landmarks?'

'The colossus of Morpork, the Hanging Gardens of Dolly Sisters…'

Angua raised herself up onto one elbow. 'Hang on, I patrol Dolly Sisters. I've never seen any gardens or anything vaguely green apart from the moss. And the Colossus of Morpork?'

'Well, it's a kind of moss. More a wall of moss. And the Colossus is about an inch high, kept in the pocket of the man who runs the Dwarf Bread Museum, but people like to be patriotic.'

'I bet they do.' She sat up and curled her arms around herself. 'I think we should probably go to the reception. They'll be worried.'

Carrot nodded, and climbed out of the bed. Angua blushed.

'You okay?'

'Yep.' She would never tell him what was going through his head; he probably wouldn't understand most of the words. 'Fine.'

'Are we going to tell them about… us?'

'Oh, I'm sure they'll have guessed. I got some very funny looks from Vimes last week, and I don't doubt he'll have told Sybil.'

'Well, they are married and all. You'd tell me stuff, wouldn't you?'

She turned around from getting dressed. ''Course I would,' she lied, then felt guilty. You couldn't lie to Carrot, it would be like hitting a puppy. 'Well, most stuff.'

He evidently didn't hear her. 'Are you going to wear your uniform?'

'Probably not. I'll stop off at home and get something.'

'Right. Mrs Cake's.'

'Yes.' She raised her eyebrows, challengingly.

He rose to the bait, or just swam straight into it. 'It's just, you could stay here. With me.' He flushed bright red, and Angua was reminded of Colon's stories that Carrot had stayed at the Seamstresses Guild. She had to ask:

'Carrot, didn't you used to stay at the Seamstresses Guild?'

'Yes. I went out a couple of times with one of them.'

Angua just stared at him. 'When you say 'went out'?'

'I dated Reet. You might have seen her; likes to wear red, often goes to the Mended Drum after the brawls. She likes to help the wounded.'

_I bet she does_, Angua thought. _Dated a seamstress, and nothing happened. That'd be something to tell Colon._

'I think I'll probably stay at Mrs Cake's for now, Carrot,' she said apologetically. 'She knows me, and my needs, and the Watch House smells of socks.'

'Does it?' He sniffed the air.

'Well, apart from your room. You clean. It's like you're a rare species.'

'Oh. Well. I'm sorry about that.

He was dressed, and she quickly pulled on her leggings and tunic. She stood up and kissed him on the cheek. 'Don't be,' she told him. 'Maybe later.'

* * *

They entered the hall of the Ramkins, now the Vimeses, and the aristocracy of Ankh-Morpork turned to look at them. Sybil came to their rescue, with a bashful looking Vimes, with a piece of confetti in his hair, following her.

'Ah, Carrot, Angua,' she trilled, in a way that made the rest of the nobles back away quickly, lest it be turned on them. 'I'm so glad you could make it.'

'Thank you, Lady Vimes,' Carrot said seriously, and turned towards Vimes. 'Captain.'

Vimes nodded, and turned to Angua. He frowned. 'How?'

'Werewolf, remember.'

He nodded. 'And you're okay now?' He pulled her off to one corner of the room urgently. 'And Carrot, he's alright. He was hurting, you know.'

'I know.' She patted his shoulder uncomfortably. 'And we're fine.'

He raised his eyebrows. 'Fine?' She was already walking off. 'We?'

She returned to Carrot, who was making conversation with the Dowager Duchess of Quirm about geraniums. 'Ah, Delphine, dear,' the Duchess said, turning towards her. 'I haven't seen you for years. And you look so lovely tonight.'

Angua froze.

'And how are your parents? And siblings?'

Carrot nudged her. 'Angua?' he whispered urgently. She shook herself, and tried to swallow down the lump in her throat.

'They're fine, thank you.' Her voice cracked, and she felt her hackles rising. 'I haven't seen them for a while, actually. Not since I moved here.'

The Duchess nodded understandingly, or so Angua thought. 'And I understand that you're a member of the City Watch now. A fine profession.'

Angua raised her eyebrows and began to speak, but Carrot interjected. 'Yes, indeed. Now, I'm very sorry Brenda, but I must speak to Captain Vimes. Urgent matter, of course.'

With great skill, he steered her away.

'Brenda?' she hissed.

He raised his eyes. 'Delphine?'

Distractedly, she twisted her hair around her finger. He grabbed her hands and held them. 'Delphine?' he asked again.

She shook her head. 'Back home… back in Uberwald, my parents called me Delphine. My middle name was Angua, and I changed it when I came here.'

'Why?'

'I hated it. It just reminded me, constantly, of my family. Which isn't a good memory, Carrot, and I don't want to talk about it here.'

He smoothed down her hair in an uncharacteristic act of affection. 'That's fine,' he said softly. 'Whenever you're ready.'

'Carrot?'

'Yes?'

'Could you please not tell anyone else that my name's Delphine? I don't want to be reminded of it.'

'Sure.' He put an arm around her shoulders. 'Shall we go and talk to Nobby. He's looking rather out of place.'

As they walked over Angua began to laugh. 'Nobby?' she called.

Nobby Nobbs, master crook, criminal and boil popper, turned to look at her. 'Please, Angua, call me Cecil whilst we're here.'

'Cecil?'

'Yep.' He slipped a silver spoon into his pocket and Angua shuddered. 'That's m'name, lance-constable.'

'Cecil.'

'Cecil Wormsborough St. John Nobbs.'

'It's a lovely name, corporal,' Carrot said from behind her. 'Very sophisticated.'

Newly-aristocratic Corporal Nobbs looked up them both. 'Ee, are you two…?'

Angua sighed. _Here goes_, she thought. 'Are we what?'

Nobby leered, and flapped his hands around. 'You know…' he said, creepily.

Just to escape from the hell which was Corporal Nobbs trying to be secretive, she admitted it. 'Yep.' At the same time, Carrot said the same thing.

'Cor, you are, ain't ya. Wait 'til I tell Fred.'

'I'm sure he'll love to hear the news,' said Carrot sincerely. That was a true Carrot comment; you could take it any way you wanted. Nobby took it the wrong way.

'Well, I'll just be going to tell him now then, if he'll love it so much.' Still leering, he turned and elbowed his way through the upper crust of Ankh-Morpork*.

'Well, that's out,' Carrot said accurately.

'Yep.'

'How long until the whole of Ankh-Morpork knows.'

Angua considered it. 'Well, Nobby'll tell Throat Dibbler, who'll tell Sidney Lopsides, who'll tell the Canting Crew… probably an hour.'

'You'd better look forward to it,' Vimes said from behind them. ''Cos I told them all last week.'

'Oh bugger.'

'Language, Constable. We are in selective company.'

'We're in amongst Sybil's company intermixed with your company, captain. I doubt that 'bugger' is the worst they're going to hear.'

'And Lady Rodley,' Carrot said.

'Who?'

'The Dowager Duchess of Quirm. I'd never heard some of the descriptions of her gardening.'

Vimes shook his head. 'I'll never figure him out,' he muttered, so that only a werewolf could here. 'Anyway, captain, constable, the reception is nearly finished. I'm supposed to let everyone know.'

'Do you want us to tell people?'

Vimes looked at Carrot gratefully. 'Could you, lad. Be a big help.'

Carrot nodded, and Vimes hurried off. Carrot walked to the centre of the room, towering above everyone else. Suddenly, Angua realised how he had interpreted that request.

'Oh bugger,' she repeated to herself.

'Excuse me,' Carrot asked the room. 'Excuse me,' he repeated, more loudly.

The whole room turned to look at him**.

'I'd just like to say that Captain Vimes has asked me to inform you that the reception is now over.'

Behind him, now sheltering behind a pillar, Vimes tried to shrink out of view. He caught sight of Angua, who was scarlet and wishing the floor would open, then laughed. Angua glared back at him.

'He's your boyfriend,' he mouthed.

She turned away from him, sensing his laughter. A roomful of aristocrats was looking up at this six-foot-six man as one.

Carrot was still talking to them. 'So if you could just make your way out of the exits here, here and here.' He gestured to the various doors.

Angua managed to slip out of one of the doors before the whole of the room realised that their feet were moving without their brains even thinking about it. She met Carrot outside, closely followed by Vimes who was looking up at him incredulously.

'They even picked up their rubbish.' He gawped at Carrot. 'How d'you do it, lad? Nobby even stopped nicking the spoons.'

'He got three silver spoons and all of the pewter ones you buffed up and laid out for him to take,' Angua told him.

'I'll get the silver ones off him in the morning.'

'No need,' Angua said, wincing. She held out her skirt. 'They're in the pocket, I took them back as he was going out. I can't touch them much.'

Vimes reached in and took them out. 'How long have they been in there?'

'About two minutes. Too long.'

'Thanks, constable.' He slipped them into his jacket.

'Constable?'

'You've finished your training, haven't you? Dying's a big part of it. Anyway,' he started to turn away, 'I'll see you two in the morning.'

Carrot nodded. Angua and him started walking down Scoone Avenue, and turned down King's Way.

'Well, that went pretty well,' Carrot said. 'All things considered.'

'Yes, it did.'

They crossed over the Ankh onto the Isle of Gods. She breathed in deeply as they approached Pseudopolis Yard.

'Carrot?'

'Yes?'

'Can I come in?'

He smiled and took her hand. 'We'll go in round the back. Though I'm sure everyone will know.'

'Thanks. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.'

Carrot opened the back door of the Watch House and led her up the back stairs. 'Don't worry about it. Nothing bad can happen.'

'I suppose not.' She inhaled the scent of his bedroom - soap, ink and a lack of socks***.

She bent down to take off her shoes, and heard him come over to her. She turned round.

'Yes?' she asked.

He kissed her.

*The part that currently wasn't floating on top of the river.

**Apart from Nobby, who was taking the opportunity to slip a few more items of cutlery into his seemingly endless pockets.

***After any time spent in a building full of men, a lack of socks can be considered a smell. It's the smell of socks that no one notices anymore.


	3. The Fifth Elephant - 1

**This is what I'm guessing a conversation between Carrot and Angua in the presence of the wolf pack in The Fifth Elephant would be like. Reviews and your opinions are always welcomed :)**

**P.S. I know it's written in the book, but I've added in some extra bits. Hope you like it.**

She changed to human behind a tree, pulling on a pair of leather leggings and a tunic. She smoothed them down and shook some warmth back into her hands, then breathed in and out deeply before going out to see him.

She looked around slowly, not wanting to catch his eye. Instead she met Gavin's who smirked, as far as a wolf could smirk, and made sure that she sat down equidistant from Carrot and Gavin. He was watching her, looking for any preference towards Gavin, and his face fell when she didn't sit next to him. For a naturally good man, Carrot could direct a decent glare at anyone he didn't agree, but all Gavin was doing was sniggering.

_He's jealous_, she realised. _I've always wanted to see some human side to him, and now he's jealous? _The thought could have made her laugh.

She stoked the fire which she presumed he had made, then skinned a rabbit one of the wolves had caught and started to cook it. Staring at the fire meant she didn't have to look at him, but she could smell him shifting closer to her. The smell of him, soap and worry, made her eyes sting, but she could blame it on the fire.

Behind her she could still feel Gavin smirking.

'Angua?' he asked softly.

'Yes?' she growled, prodding at the fire.

'Why did you go?'

She breathed in deeply, trying not to inhale the smoke fumes, or worse, him. Her brow furrowed. 'Have I ever explained my family to you?'

'Not in detail. You were always pretty evasive.'

'Was I?' She didn't realise that he had noticed.

'You said you didn't like them much.' Carrot frowned. 'And something about a brother, Andrei, was it? You said he was pretty decent.'

'My brother, well, that brother, is a sheepdog.'

'Ah.'

'My sister's dead.'

'Ah.'

'My brother killed her. My other brother.'

'Why?'

She concentrated on the fire as she tried to formulate an answer. 'My brother Wolfgang is what I suppose you would call a traditionalist. Believes in pure blood, the family pedigree, all that shit.' She didn't often swear, and Carrot tried to stifle a gasp, but she continued. 'Elsa was a yennork, she was stuck in one form. Wolfgang thought that she was some sort of disease, some mutation in the family line, like being a werewolf wasn't problem enough. So he killed her.'

Carrot put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off. 'So then Andrei, who was stuck as a wolf, ran off and became a sheepdog. Wins prizes and all over in Lancre.'

'So he's good at his job. It all ends well for him.'

She stared at him. 'Carrot, he's been extradited from the family, he's lost me and my father, who isn't that bad. Father spends too much time as a wolf for the human side to come through.' She shuddered. 'Wolfgang's the opposite. Spends plenty of time as a wolf, yes, but the evil comes through. The human side. He's aiming to restore the fine name of the werewolves,' here, she snarled, 'and control Uberwald. So he's screwing with the dwarfs, and so hopes that he'll rule the whole of Uberwald.' She stared back into the fire. 'Ambition's a cruel thing.'

'So why are you here?'

'I can stop him.'

'How?'

She shrugged. 'I'm smarter than he is, and staying human gives you a certain strength of mind. If you stay in one form too long you lose the capabilities of the other. I could always beat him in fights when we were younger, just because I was quicker at changing. I never liked being a wolf for too long.' It made your head turn to mush, your thoughts scrambled and you couldn't think logically. The world narrowed down to what was directly in front of you, not what other senses noticed.

'And Wolfgang stays as a wolf.'

'Yep.'

'Which is why you rarely sleep as a wolf.' There was a pause. 'Angua, your mouth's hanging open.'

Angua shook her head. Of all the things he was oblivious to - irony, sarcasm, the mood of the general public - he seemed to be adept at noticing stuff about her.

But it was true. She never went to sleep as a wolf; even during full moon she kept out of the moonlight and tried to stay human. Sleeping as a wolf, even if it was cold, could lead to all sorts of problems. For one, she might not be able to change back again.

Carrot could barely stand her as a wolf for the five nights a month, let alone if it was permanent.

He was looking at her, all concern. 'Angua, you didn't just come here to stop him.'

It was a statement, not a question.

'No.'

He nodded slowly. 'Are you going to tell me?'

'At some time. Maybe when it's over. Then I'll tell you.'

He understood her, of course he understood her. He was Carrot. And in a way, she would have preferred him to rage a bit, or act annoyed, just so she knew that he cared. This understanding was the same mood he applied to everyone else, there was nothing special for her.

And it hurt.

And she didn't know why.

She walked away, rubbing her eyes again.


	4. Hogswatch

**This was originally going to be in my Hogswatch drabbles, but after writing I thought it fitted in better here. If you want more Hogswatchy stuff, feel free to visit them.**

**Set on the Hogswatch after Angua's joined the Watch. **

* * *

It was compulsory, Carrot had said, for the Commander of the Watch to make a speech at the Hogswatch party. So, Angua was sitting in a shadow in the far corner of the canteen watching Carrot persuade Vimes to go up onto the table.

Finally, Vimes relented, and Carrot gave him a leg-up onto the table at the front of the room. Vimes looked around awkwardly, and caught Angua's eye. She shrugged her shoulders.

Carrot came to sit next to her, and smiled encouragingly at Vimes.

Vimes cleared his throat. 'Um, hello?'

A couple of people responded. Carrot glared at anyone who didn't.

'Um, well, Happy Hogswatch. I hope you're enjoying the beer.' There were a couple of cheers and Vimes grinned. 'This is the first proper celebration in what, twenty years? So we're happy to have you, even the specials,' here he glared at Carrot, 'and the Librarian.'

'Ook,' the Librarian said cheerfully, on his twentieth banana.

'So, Happy Hogswatch.'

Everyone started clapping. Vimes jumped down off the table and grabbed his drink.

When he turned round they were still clapping, and Angua nudged Carrot. 'They can stop now,' she hissed.

Carrot made a flourish only slightly akin to a conductor, and the clapping stopped.

Vimes had come over and sat next to Angua. 'Was that okay?'

'Well, it went down fine.' She gestured to the room. 'They seem happy.'

Vimes nodded. 'I don't like speeches.'

'I know.'

'Never made one before. Well, not of my own free will. Don't like 'em.'

'I can see.'

Vimes grinned briefly at her, and reached into his breastplate. 'I got you something.'

'You didn't have- Oh, gods.'

Vimes twirled the sprig of mistletoe in his fingers. 'I thought that it would add a bit of festive cheer.'

'Put that away!'

'Why?' Vimes asked innocently. 'Don't you want to kiss him?'

'He thinks there are rules!'

'That's not great in the bedroom,' Vimes said solemnly.

'No, he'll think he has to kiss me. Right here!'

'Hello, you two.' Carrot came over to sit next to Angua. He looked between them. 'She is my girlfriend, sir,' he said, slightly upset.

'No, no, it's for you.' Vimes grinned at Angua.

To her complete lack of surprise Carrot blushed. Then, to her complete surprise, he leant down and kissed her. It was a proper kiss, as well. She could feel her knees going weak.

Dimly, she could hear Vimes burst out laughing. Without breaking the kiss, she reached behind her, picked up an empty beer mug and chucked it at his head.

Finally, Carrot pulled away and she gasped. Colour flooded her face.

'Alright, Angua?' Vimes asked. She glared at him.

'Was that alright?' Carrot asked nervously.

'That was...that was good,' Angua managed to stutter.

'Well, if you two want a bit of privacy...' Vimes stopped, because Angua had just kicked him under the table.

'Okay,' Carrot said cheerfully.

'Carrot!'

'What?' Carrot asked her, perplexed.

'Do you know what he meant?' she hissed. Vimes rolled his eyes as she pulled his head down and whispered something in her ear.

'Oh,' he said. 'Well, if you want to.'

Angua went beet red, and there were a couple of catcalls from the people who had been watching. Vimes grinned and nudged her.

'I think he wants to go with you.'

_'Shut up!'_

'Just saying.' Vimes leant back and lit a cigar.

Angua glanced around the room, then looked at Carrot, not really knowing what to say. Nervous Carrot, she could deal with. Willing Carrot, no, not willing, he was always willing, it was enthusiastic Carrot she couldn't quite figure out.

Suddenly, she turned to look at Vimes. 'What did you put in his drink?'

Most of the people had wandered off, the entertainment done for the night.

'Nothing,' Vimes said, and she had to admit she believed him. He wasn't grinning, for a start.

She looked back up at Carrot, who was still smiling nervously. 'Alright,' she said slowly. 'But we'll go back to my place.'

Vimes patted her on the back. 'I'll leave you two to it. Have a good evening, Constable, Captain.'

Angua kicked him again, and he wandered off.

Carrot took her hand and led her outside. The cold air whacked her round the face, and she started shivering. It had been warm inside the Yard. That was why she was flushed. Of course.

'Carrot?'

He turned to her, and the lamplight reflected off his face as he smiled. 'Yes?'

'What...what was all that?'

'Well, Colon had told me to be a bit enthusiastic. He said that you looked like a girl who enjoyed that sort of thing.'

'Oh, gods. And you believed him?'

'Well, yes. He's already given me lots of good advice.'

Angua laughed out loud, because that was Carrot, _real_ Carrot, who took all advice he was given, who followed it to the letter. You had to smile at it.

She reached behind his head and pulled his lips down to meet hers. And suddenly, she wasn't cold anymore.


	5. Apologies - this chapter lacks a name

**Warning: this chapter is pure angst. I apologise now, but it had been a long day.**

**Enjoy :)**

She would have gone. That's what she told herself afterwards. She would have gone.

She had even packed her bags, they were under the bed at Mrs Cake's place. No, _her_ place. The watch house was not her place, nor was Carrot's room, despite how much she stayed there.

If anything, she should have gone sooner, not let herself get sucked into this. But she wasn't sucked in, was she? She was fine, she could get out, she was fine...

And then she had woken up beside him.

He was looking down at her, concern radiating off him. 'Are you alright?'

'What?'

'You were crying.'

Angua raised a hand to her cheek and felt the tears. 'I don't...'

'What's wrong?'

She sat up and put her head in her hands. Carrot put an arm around her.

'Angua?'

'It's nothing.'

'No, it's something. Something you're not telling me.'

'Did I ever tell you about my family?' she interrupted.

'Well, I've met them. I think that counts.'

'And did you notice something about them? They were _all_ werewolves.'

'I thought that was sort of a requirement,' Carrot said carefully.

'Exactly! This,' she pointed to herself and then him, 'this should never have happened. You'll just end up getting hurt.'

'More hurt than you would be if you went back?'

That shut her up. 'What?'

'More hurt than I would be if you left?' Carrot continued. 'This is working. Well, as well as can be expected. You just keep convincing yourself that it shouldn't be.'

For a simple man, Carrot could be remarkably astute.

'I don't want you to get hurt,' she said weakly.

'Who says I will get hurt?'

'I do! You've met my family, haven't you? Wolfgang tried to kill you!'

'No he didn't. He broke my arm.'

'He could have killed you!'

'Not any more.' And that was Carrot all over, being so...rational.

'But who's to say that something else won't come after you?'

Carrot looked her dead in the eyes. 'What reason do they have to come after you? Why should they care anymore?'

Angua just stared at him.

'You ran away, yes? They didn't come after you. Well, you've never said what you did after you ran away, but I'm fairly sure you would have mentioned that. And it was only when you went back that they tried to hurt me.'

She got out of bed and walked out of the door. 'I don't want to hear this.'

'Why not? Angua, you should be relieved!'

'But I'm not! I'm not, and that's the most stupid thing about it! I should be cheering and celebrating that I won't get hurt anymore, but I'm not!'

'Because they're your family.'

'Yes!'

'And what have they ever done for you? You've never told me much, but you didn't have that great a childhood, did you? I've seen some of the scars.'

Angua stood dead still. 'You never mentioned those.'

'Why would I have? You didn't want to talk about it.'

'But they're family, Carrot!'

He shook his head. 'No. Families don't do that to each other.'

'Oh, for crying out loud, Carrot, you've seen enough families not to believe that.'

He stood up, and he was almost crying. 'Look at us, Angua! What have your family ever done to deserve the pleasure of knowing we're screaming at each other?'

She stared at him. Just stared.

She looked at Carrot, tears rolling down his cheeks, holding his hands up in the air in exasperation, and felt guilty, so, so guilty... Carrot's innocent face was torn up, his red rimmed eyes blazed blue.

'What are you going to do?' he asked. 'Because you can do whatever you want, I'm not going to stop you. I just need to know.'

This was it. This was the decision. And as she stared into his eyes she knew, she knew what she was going to do and she hated herself for it, because she had promised herself she would never put anyone else in that danger. And now she was.

He could see it in her eyes, and walked forward. As he put his arms around her, she wanted to push them off, because it would only end in pain. But every breath she took, ever sob she made, made her want to stay more.

'Angua?'

'Yes?' Her voice was muffled by the fabric of his vest.

'You don't have to decide now. I'm sorry, I was being-'

She looked up at him incredulously. 'You think you were hurting me?'

'Well, it's your life, and I don't want to impose-'

'Carrot, if you weren't here I would have gone far away already. And you know, I don't think I can leave.'

'You can leave if you want to.'

'What's a cross between a wolf and a human, Carrot? It's a dog. I'm your dog.'

'But you don't have to be.'

'Maybe it's different for werewolves, then, because I couldn't leave, even if I wanted to. And I don't want to.'

'Are you sure?'

'Carrot, ten minutes ago I was screaming at you, and you just let me. You didn't let it hurt you, you just let me get it out. Other men would have hit me, they would have left, but you didn't.'

'I wouldn't hit you.'

'It hasn't stopped others. No, listen, Carrot, you've been the only one who I've ever told that I was a werewolf and not looked scared, or angry, or gods know what. But then my family thinks I'm too human, and I can't ever get it right!'

'Those scars...'

'Yes?'

'They weren't all from your family, were they?'

She shrugged. 'It's not easy, being a werewolf. Yes, I can defend myself, but from a huge man holding a knife?'

He pulled her closer. 'Who was this?' he said angrily.

'No one you know. I can assure you of that.'

'Who?'

Angua looked up at him. 'Carrot, you can't do anything. I mean this. It happened, all you can do is stop it happening again.'

Gently, he placed a hand on her ribs, just where the deepest scar was. 'You don't have to tell me,' he said softly. 'But I'm here if you want to.'

'I don't...I don't want to remember it.'

'You don't have to.'

'I will someday, though. Someday in the future.'

'So you'll be here?' he asked gently.

'I think so.'

'Well,' he raised her head so that she was looking at him, 'that's all I can ask for.'

**Please review :)**


	6. Men At Arms 3

**This, as many of my C/A stories are, was supposed to be for another set of fics - in this case, Carrying on a tune - but it fits better here. Don't ask me why.**

**Anyway, I was in a fluffy mood, so here you are. Enjoy.**

**Set just after the second chapter in the two Men At Arms one's I've done on here, just to confuse you :)**

* * *

Carrot woke up, rolled over in bed and almost crushed Angua. She grunted slightly, but didn't wake up.

After checking that it wasn't full moon, he threw open the curtains and stared out of the city. A few lights glimmered at him - he was facing out of some of the less nocturnal areas of Ankh-Morpork - and he caught sight of the satisfying darkness of the Tower of Art, just out of the corner of his eye.

He gripped the windowsill, and shuddered as he remembered the bullets.

They hit her almost in slow motion, puncturing the golden fur and forcing the blood to blossom across her chest like some beautiful, deadly rose. She had slumped backwards, and he had stopped dead, just for a brief second.

Then he ran on.

And he had done what needed to be done, he had put the gonne…somewhere safe, not blaming Cruces at all. Because he had felt the power, but it was somewhere else, a malignant madness with a bluey-green sheen and a faint smell of rockets. It wasn't in him.

Absentmindedly, he had picked up one of the lead shots and rolled it around in his fingers. Its smoothness, its precision had astounded him. It felt too delicate to have caused such damage, too clean to have caused that much mayhem.

But it wasn't the gonne that caused the problems. It was the people.

Angua stirred behind him, and opened her eyes with a look of panic until she remembered where she was. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember.

Her voice cracked slightly as she spoke. 'I died, yes?'

'Yes,' Carrot replied, looking out of the window. 'And then you came back, and then we talked, and then you fell asleep.' He felt it prudent not to give her all the details.

Angua looked down at herself, and curled herself up into a ball. 'That wasn't all that happened, was it?'

Carrot blushed; Angua could see the tips of his ears reddening as he thought about a polite response. 'Not quite all.'

She giggled, pulled the blanket around her, and walked over to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. 'You do realise it's nothing to be embarrassed about, don't you?'

'Are you sure?' Carrot asked sincerely.

'Very. Although,' she said quickly, knowing how he would interpret that, 'you don't have to tell anyone.'

Carrot exhaled, and she could feel the muscles under her head move slightly. His smell, one of soap and worry and kindness, surrounded her and made her feel warmer as she stood there, staring out of the window with him.

As she watched, she could see how he saw the beauty in the chaos. Maybe not the beauty, as such, it would take a very good poet, and a very good liar, to describe Ankh-Morpork's 'beauty', but she could see how its complexity astounded him. Tiny little cogs, all working together in perfect harmony, and she knew he thought he had to keep the cogs moving rather than do anything to disrupt them.

But he had disrupted them, hadn't he?

What she would never tell him was that, in the middle of the night, she had gone downstairs to get away from him. Because she felt she could never let him that close; to do so would only hurt him, and she couldn't bear to see the pain in his eyes as she had fallen.

* * *

She had made herself a coffee, wrapped the blanket closer around her shoulders, and spotted someone else sitting at the table.

As she sat down in front of him, Mister Vimes raised a head wearily.

'Rough night?' He glanced at the state of her hair, and _whose _shirt she was wearing, and reconsidered. 'No, Carrot's not the sort for that.'

'Thanks for that,' she said, blushing.

'You're welcome.'

'What are you doing anyway? It's your wedding night, and it's a little perverse to be spending it here.'

'Thanks for that,' he retorted. Then his face softened. 'Couldn't sleep.'

'So you came here?'

'Well, I suppose I'm technically banned, but you don't look to be in much of a state to do anything either.'

'Couldn't sleep.'

He looked as if he was going to make a joke, but decided against it. 'How come?'

'Guess.'

He watched her for a moment. 'Let me guess, because of being a werewolf you have severe commitment issues, and are afraid that if you stay close to him he'll end up getting hurt.'

Angua gulped her coffee to think of something to say to that. 'I suppose so,' she said slowly.

He grinned bitterly. 'Well, it's the same for humans, Angua. Some humans, anyway.'

It was the first time he had actually used her name, but that was normality now, she supposed.

'Go back to her,' she said firmly.

'What? Are you going back to him.'

'Yes. So, this is our deal.'

He shook his head. 'You're a tough gambler.'

'Well, there's a lot at stake. Especially for you.'

He looked at her, his expression full of pity. 'And you don't think there's much in it for you?'

'I can get out.'

'No, no you can't. It's completely clear to the rest of the Disc that you're completely in love with him, so don't try to hide it.'

'How do you know it's not a simple, no-strings-attached hook-up?'

'Because you wouldn't do that to him,' Vimes replied instantly. 'So don't try and kid me that it's anything other than whatever humankind - sorry, whatever the collective noun is for werewolves - has invented for our need for companionship and occasional sex.'

'You don't mean that.'

His eyebrows raised in challenge. 'Prove it.'

'Because, this afternoon, you got married. And I saw your face afterwards, and it was of a man who loves his wife with everything he has.'

'Sentimental. Lovely.'

'Do you accept our deal?'

He sighed theatrically, and looked at her amused glance. 'Fine.'

What he would never tell her, though, was his discussion with Carrot earlier that night.

* * *

Carrot, just after Angua had fallen asleep with her hair spread out over the pillow beside him, had walked down the creaky stairs and into the canteen.

'Evening, Mister Vimes,' he said cheerfully, if not a shade tiredly.

'Why are you up?'

Carrot didn't reply instantly, instead seeing if there was a plausible almost-truth that he could use instead. Finally, he settled for what he thought was ambiguity. 'Angua's just fallen asleep.'

Vimes laughed suddenly. 'Well, Colon owes me half a dollar.'

'Why?'

He evidently didn't want to explain the actual name of the bet to Carrot. 'So, how was it?' he asked, smiling slightly.

'It was interesting.'

'That doesn't sound great.'

'No, no, it was.' Carrot was blushing. 'It's just…'

'Listen, lad, you don't need to be embarrassed.'

'It's just that…she knows what she's doing. And I don't.'

'You mean about sex?' Vimes asked bluntly.

Carrot looked panicked. 'No, no. I know that, and she seemed happy enough. It's the actual being in a relationship that I don't know much about.'

'Well, you went out with that girl Minty, didn't you?'

'But her parents were always watching us.'

'Well, from what I've heard about Constable Angua's parents you wouldn't want them watching over you.'

Carrot looked confused. 'What have you heard?'

'Hasn't Angua mentioned it?'

'Mentioned what?'

Vimes paused. 'Look, you know her family's werewolves? Well, she ran away from them, so I gather it's not that great a family.'

Carrot stared out of the window for a moment, as if he was trying to understand something he really didn't want to. 'She's got scars…'

Vimes nodded.

'All over her…I mean, everywhere…'

Carrot seemed to be frozen with the realisation of what Angua…was. 'What did they do to you?' he whispered.

'That's something I can't help you with. So don't go believing Angua's as confident as she seems.'

Carrot nodded, but he seemed to be elsewhere.

'Carrot, just stay with her. Because I don't know what she would do if she didn't have anyone.'

'Has she had other boyfriends?'

'You tell me.' He looked at Carrot's confusion, and grinned inwardly at the boy's innocence. 'I don't doubt it. She's a pretty girl, and she was lonely. If they were serious or not, that I can't tell you, but somehow I don't think they were.'

'Why?'

'Look, she's a werewolf, Carrot. Most people aren't alright with that.'

He nodded slowly, and looked straight into Vimes's eyes. 'Why would they hurt her?'

'I don't know.'

Carrot walked over to the sink and put his mug down in it. 'Why are you here, anyway?'

'Maybe I needed a little emotional support.'

'But you're married. Why not Sybil?'

Vimes shrugged, not really knowing himself. 'I don't know.'

Carrot watched him sympathetically. 'Well, I hope you find out.'

And, through those two, he did find out.

As Mister Vimes walked down Scoone Avenue and let himself into her…no, his house, he remembered both of their expressions. And then he remembered Sybil's.

And he went up to bed, kissed her on the cheek, and fell asleep.

* * *

And as Angua rested her head against Carrot's shoulder as they stared out across the city, he idly traced the most vivid scar on her left shoulder and felt himself love her more.

And as she lay above him, staring into his blue eyes and feeling the heat of his body, she forced herself to stay for now.

As he rolled over and put his arms around her waist she stared out of the still open window, feeling the slight breeze caress her shoulders and make the thin wisps of her hair fly out, she felt herself actually wanting to stay, rather than being forced to. And it was a feeling she clung onto, grabbed it and held it to her waist where his hands were gently pressed against her skin, just so he would remember it if she forgot.

Though she doubted he would ever forget.

* * *

**Please review/favourite/whatever, it makes me happy :)**


	7. The Fifth Elephant - 3

**Heavily edited version of a chapter from Brief Encounters, but with more fluffiness. **

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

She ran.

Up winding staircases and through the maze of rooms in the embassy, jumping down steps and trying door handles to see which were locked and which she could hide in. It wouldn't be hard for them to find her, blood was dripping from a dozen cuts and, like her, Carrot always seemed to know where she was, but she was damned if she wasn't going to try to avoid them. It was the wolf thing, she supposed; run, run, run away from humans lest they hurt you. Or you hurt them, though most wolves didn't have to think like that.

She couldn't go out, though. He might still be there, waiting with that patient, endlessly kind face which she would never be able resist.

She finally found a door which yielded to her and swung it open, darting inside and slamming it behind her. From far away she could hear the muffled thud of shoes on stairs, coming closer, boots. Leather boots, from what she could smell, and she felt herself try to shy away.

Leaning against the door, she breathed. Concentrating on the feeling of carpet under her feet and the cold air blowing against her skin instead of the blood sliding down her arms and legs, she stared up at the ceiling, painted a dark, regal blue with an ornate moon across it, mocking her. An image, but it still made her skin crawl.

She started to laugh.

She didn't know why. It was a breathy, aching, screaming laugh which seemed to echo around the empty room and make it bone-chillingly cold, and it was hysterical. There was no reason for her to be laughing, she should be crying, she should be yelling and shouting with the pain and the anger which had replaced her blood. She shouldn't be laughing.

The door swung open. Carrot caught her as she fell backwards.

* * *

'Mithth Angua, you can't fall athleep, you know.'

She was lying on the cold stone floor down in the basement with Igor, well, another Igor who had heard that Igor was no more, standing over her with a calculating expression and a needle and thread. Carrot was just off to one side, staring out of the window away from the cuts.

'Who says?' Angua murmured. She opened her eyes again, though.

'I'll need to do the one on your thtomach first,' Igor said, threading the needle deftly and kneeling down. He had covered her with a sheet, but pulled it back again to examine the gash which Wolfgang had caused, slicing through the skin as if it was butter.

'Do you have any painkillers?' she asked, wincing as the needle slipped in.

'No, but I do have thith lovely pair of kidneyth, thraight in from a girl about your age-'

'Just the cuts, please, Igor.'

He nodded crossly and bent over.

She sensed Carrot moving closer and turned to look at him smiling nervously. She took his hand as he sat down and squeezed as Igor pulled the stitches tighter.

'Are you okay?' Carrot asked softly.

She looked up and stared into Carrot's eyes.

She felt…everything. The rush of snow and the sound of the trampling horse, Gaspode's whingeing and moaning throughout the whole thing, screams of fear, another wolf who she didn't recognise, the tantalising taste of roast chicken just too far away to reach… And then there was the pain, that ever present heartbreak which was destroying Carrot from the inside, ripping him into fragments which were blowing away in the blizzard. She felt tired feet and a broken arm and a few bruised ribs which she had seen coming but couldn't call out against. She felt all the times that Carrot had wanted to give up and didn't, because of some sort of loyalty or some sort of love.

As Igor snipped the last thread he stroked her hair gently, only once, and disappeared upstairs.

Wincing, she sat up and felt an unfamiliar tension in her stomach which wasn't from the stitches. She ran her hands through her hair and tried to wrap the sheet further around herself, even though Igor had probably never even considered that. There was the Code after all.

'Igor,' she asked. 'Could you bring me my clothes?'

Igor moved away from what Angua thought of as his toolbox and rooted around for a moment inside a leather rucksacks until he found something. As he pulled the garment out she recognised it.

'I didn't bring that,' she said, confused.

'Marthter Carrot brought it. He thaid that he thought you'd be needing it.'

_He thought I'd come back_, Angua said to herself as she pulled the dress on and did up the belt. _He was sure that I'd come back._

_He was convinced that he would win. Convinced that he would just whistle and I'd come running because that's what happened before, why should now be any different? Convinced that I was good enough.  
_  
A thought, completely unbidden, swam up in her mind. Something Gaspode had said.

'I'd wonder if he gambled everything on it,' he had said whilst she was staring into the fire that he had made, trying to see some sort of order in the darting flames.

_I'm almost certain._

* * *

It was afterwards. Burials, coronations and promises had already happened, and it wasn't even nightfall yet. The moon hadn't risen from behind the trees, as if it was lurking in case she spotted it and glared it into submission, wishing that it had no effect on her, didn't turn her into some sort of monster...

She shuddered and pulled herself together.

Angua walked silently along the corridor and knocked on the door of Carrot's room, smiling as she saw a faint shadow under the door like he was standing beside it. He opened it quickly, almost like he had been waiting there all along, and they stood face to face for what seemed like the first time in forever, staring at each other.

'Can I come in?' Angua asked quietly. He held the door open as she walked through and leaned against the back wall.

He gestured to the bed. 'You can sit down,' he said nervously. As she moved over towards it he gestured towards his mini kettle that someone had felt it prudent and completely unnecessary to include. 'Can I get you something to drink? Something to eat?'

'I'm fine, Carrot.'

He turned away from the chest of drawers and came to sit next to her on the bed. 'I'm sorry, I just…'

Taking a deep breath, she leaned in and kissed him.

He found her waist on automatic and pulled her closer, and as she closed her eyes and just forgot about the world and all the hell and the shit that existed in it she ended up just concentrating on him, how he loved her no matter what, how he would be loyal right up until the very edge of the Disc and maybe even beyond and how he was a really good kisser…

The thought flew into her head unconsciously and she felt her skin grow warm. Gently, she placed her hands on his chest and pulled away.

'Is something wrong?' he asked, full of concern. His blue eyes ached.

'No. I just need to say something before I get distracted and if I don't say it now I'll never have the chance to again and…'

He put his hand gently on her wrist and she fell quiet.

'What is it?'

'I'm sorry, Carrot. I'm so, so sorry.'

He gently followed the thin bones in her wrist as he stared at the bedspread. 'It's all right.'

'But it's not! I shouldn't have gone, I shouldn't have left you and made you leave too.'

'You didn't make me leave.'

'But I left and you followed.'

His fingers paused. 'Of course I did. I love you.'

There should have been cymbals and cherubs. There should have been fireworks. There should have been golden light and angels, but there didn't need to be.

All there was was Carrot's hand on her arm and Angua's breath out when she finally remembered that oxygen was necessary.

'You never said,' Angua managed.

'I didn't think I needed to,' he said simply. He stood up and walked over to the window, pulling the curtains shut against the moonlight.

'Carrot?' she asked.

'Yes?'

'Why?'

He sat back down on the bed and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders which were covered in goose bumps from the cold, presumably. 'Is there a reason? Does there ever have to be?'

She smiled. 'Good answer.'

He traced the cut on her arm and frowned. 'What would have been another answer?'

She sighed and leaned against him, marvelling at his innocence and his complete and utter certainly. 'I don't know, Carrot.'

'Why didn't you tell me?'

She paused, assembling all the different answers in her head until she found one that might resemble the truth.

'Because I didn't want to.'

He nodded, and slipped his arm around her shoulder. 'But you do, don't you?'

He sounded so worried, even when he knew, surely he must know, that she smiler, that she laughed, a slightly hesitant one which was strengthened with Carrot's confused look. She hadn't laughed properly in ages, only hysterical shrieks when she was hurting too much to scream, but she had cried enough.

'Carrot.'

'Yes.'

'I love you. Trust me on this.'

He smiled. 'I will.'

She pulled him closer, daring the moon to interrupt, and met his lips. She closed her eyes and just let herself forget everything.

And after a while, for Angua von Uberwald, the Discworld moved. But at least there was someone there to hold her hand.

* * *

Angua awoke in the middle of the night and stared at the wall until she felt Carrot stir beside her. The mattress sank as he rolled over and slipped his arms around her waist, lying against her back with his head resting on her shoulder.

She let herself relax into him and her breathing slowed.

'Angua?' he whispered, his breath tickling her neck.

'Yes?'

'Are you coming back, then?'

She smiled sadly and gripped his hand. 'There's nothing for me here.'

He sighed and she felt his chest move against her back. 'That's not a good reason to come back.'

She rolled over to face him and saw the hurt in his eyes again, which sliced through her like a silver blade. 'Maybe it's not the only reason.'

His eyes lit up slightly, though he couldn't disguise the worry. 'It'll do for now.'

* * *

One night, a couple of days after Vimes had returned, Carrot walked Angua home through the damp, cold streets of Ankh-Morpork, grabbing her arm every time she slipped on the frozen slush. It was twilight, the secret hour that they had found where there weren't enough people around for there to be crimes committed, which meant that they could have a few minutes peace.

They reached the doorway to Mrs Cake's and she pulled him closer.

And suddenly, just for that brief second, the world was a little brighter. They went inside.


	8. The Fifth Elephant - Alternative

**What if Angua didn't come back at the end of TFE? Originally posted as a separate story, but it's better here. **

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

Angua had been sitting there for three, four hours, just staring blankly into the darkness behind her eyes and waiting for an answer. She was waiting for something, anything to come to her, but it hadn't so far.

_'Besides,' he said. 'I love you.'_

Twilight approached, and was warded off by the last rays of the winter sunshine.

Someone sat next to her and wordlessly handed her a jumper and a mug. She slipped the woollen garment on gratefully.

'Thought you might be here,' Mister Vimes said pleasantly.

She didn't reply.

'I thought: where would she go? Far, far away, or would she stay close enough to fix the mistake.'

'Mistake?'

'Yes, Angua. Mistake.'

She didn't say anything, just lay back and stared at the battling sky. Night was winning. After a few seconds, Vimes lay down next to her.

'You're not going to get me back, you know.'

'You haven't told me to go away.'

'Maybe I'm too polite.'

'But I don't deserve politeness, do I?'

She sighed. 'No, _I_ don't deserve politeness.'

'Yet I'm still civil, aren't I? I could be a lot worse.'

'True.'

He changed tack quickly. 'Do you know what I saw the first time I saw you?'

'You're going to tell me anyway.'

He carried on regardless. 'I saw a pretty girl, young enough, scared enough, and she was running away from something. I didn't know what it was, and I still don't now, though I can take an educated guess.'

'Guess, then.'

'Not yet. I'm still going. And now I'm here, and so are you, but we're missing someone else. And I still see that same girl, though she's a little older now, a little more tired, a little more cynical, but she's still the same. She's not changed dramatically, not to me anyway. She's still running.'

Angua didn't say anything to that, noticing that, so far, he hadn't mentioned Carrot. The thought of him made her insides twist uncomfortably.

'Why, Angua?'

'Why what?'

'Why are you still running?'

She paused, seeing if there was a plausible lie, but none came. 'Because I don't want him to get hurt.'

'Wrong. You don't want _you_ to get hurt.'

Well, that was true as well. She was damned if she was going to admit it, though.

'So, Angua, where have you run to? You've run to the past, and that's a big mistake.' He took a slurp from the mug. 'Believe me.'

'Where else would I go?'

'Why do you have to go?'

'Because how in hell can I stay now?' she shouted. 'After he's seen what I could be? He'd never take me back.'

'But he did, didn't he?'

'He didn't mean it!'

'Oh, trust me, he meant it. I mean, I wasn't there, but whatever he said, it was true.'

'How do you know he didn't turn me away and tell me to get out?'

'This is Carrot we're talking about? Tall guy, red hair-'

'Oh, stop buggering about.'

He raised his eyebrows. 'That's assault on a superior officer.'

'No, it isn't. It's assault on a watchman, or it would be if we were back home.'

She realised her mistake. 'Back _home_, eh?'

'It's a figure of speech!'

'But it isn't, is it? And where do you mean? The city in general, or your place at Mrs Cake's, or Carrot's room? Because you sure spend enough time there.'

'Oh, thanks for noticing.'

'You're welcome. But I'm willing to bet that home isn't here.'

'I'm not likely to stay,' she said bitterly.

'How do you know? You've been run out of Pseudopolis, Quirm, Sto Lat, gods know where else, so where are you going to go apart from here, or back home?'

'Well, you're so full of advice, why don't you tell me?'

'You'll go home. I know you will.'

'Yeah, well you're wrong. Because, no offence, you don't know me.'

'You'd be surprised how well I do.'

'Prove it.'

He took a deep breath, as if he was putting everything at stake here, and she would guess he was. This was his last stand, his last piece of evidence that could make her go back.

'Your name is Delphine von Überwald, you are what, twenty, twenty one? You ran away from home at the age of sixteen, travelled around, got a lot of scars, came to the city, joined the Watch to do something good or to get some semblance of a family, and found Carrot. You've thought about running away so many times, because every other boyfriend or hook up you've ever had has hurt you, and finally you got an excuse, but it had your family in the mix as well. But you took a gamble and lost it all.'

'You didn't mention the werewolf bit.'

'Oh, yeah, and you're a vegetarian werewolf. Do you want me to go on?'

'Not really.'

He put his hands behind his head and lay back down on them. 'You're scared of what you might become, because you've seen your bitch of a mother, and I mean that in the expletive sense, your trembling wreck of a father, your sadistic brother who viciously murdered your sister and god knows who else. And they've only ever hurt you - I've seen the bite marks, and they're not hickeys-' here, Angua blushed slightly, 'so you've reasoned that you're only ever going to hurt other people.'

'I can't hurt him,' she said slowly.

'But you have, Angua. You left him, and you have no idea how much pain he's in.'

'Really, you think I don't know how much pain he's in? Don't you know that I feel every single little thing that hurts him like a knife wound?'

'So go back. Stop hurting, for once, and maybe love him back.'

'But then I'll just have to leave him again.'

Vimes absentmindedly checked his watch.

'Oh, you can go if you want,' Angua said wearily.

'No, no, I was just wondering something.'

Suddenly, she jerked upright and clutched her stomach as a white hot pain shot through her whole body, seizing up her lungs. On the edge of her consciousness, she could smell the faint aroma of soap that always accompanied him.

'Angua?'

'He's been hurt,' she gasped.

Vimes lay back. 'Then leave him. He can't come after you.'

In one smooth movement, Angua slapped him round the face and stood up. He found himself grinning, but she had already started sprinting away.

Vimes picked up the mug, and started to leisurely walk home, only to see a carriage pull up. Gratefully, he climbed into it.

'Home, Igor.'

'You mean the embathy, your grathe?'

'Yep. That.'

'Of courthe, thur.'

* * *

Angua was dimly aware of the carriage rattling down the mud path, but ignored it, focused on running as far as she could, as fast as she could.

The pain was still present, coursing through her veins and squeezing tears from her eyes. She hadn't cried for what seemed like forever, but really, really didn't want the tears to keep running out of her eyes. For gods' sakes, she didn't want to feel _anything_.

Finally, she reached the embassy and saw him lying crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. Cheery was standing awkwardly to one side, holding a frying pan.

'What the hell have you done?' she screamed at the dwarf, who visibly cowered. 'What the hell is going on?'

'Nice to see you again, Angua,' Vimes said conversationally from behind her.

She span round and managed to catch her hand as it lashed out towards him. She managed to catch her breath. 'Why is my friend standing over my...Carrot...holding a frying pan?'

'It's part of an elaborate plan that me and Cheery, not to mention Igor, thought up as the fairy matchmakers.'

'Which involved a rather large bang to the head?'

'His head, though. At first I thought it should be yours.'

'Let me guess, Carrot willingly volunteered to be whacked over the head by someone three feet shorter than him?'

'Carrot hasn't got a clue about this.'

'Well, he doesn't now,' she replied pointedly.

'He didn't before, is what I mean, though I'm fairly sure he would volunteer. For you.'

She shot him a glare. 'And let me guess, the point of this was to make me come back and make me realise how much I love him and go back to the city with him. Yes?'

'More or less.'

'Well, it's not going to work.' Tears were coursing down her face, and she wiped them away hastily. 'Look, I'm going before he-'

'Angua?'

She span round, and saw that Carrot's eyes had blearily opened.

'I said twenty minutes, Cheery,' Vimes hissed to her.

'What are you doing?' he croaked.

Angua looked round urgently, looking for a way out, but Vimes had conveniently blocked the door. 'Look, Carrot-'

'Are you coming back?'

There was a faint note of hope in his voice that she couldn't resist, it made her want to go and hug him and never look back and...

She became aware that Vimes was looking at her.

'Carrot, I don't know,' she said honestly.

'Oh.' His face brightened slightly. 'Well, at least it isn't a no.'

'No,' she said slowly. 'It isn't.'

Carrot looked around, confused. 'Why am I on the floor?'

'That's a long story,' Cheery attempted.

'And why does my head hurt?'

'You fell down the stairs,' Vimes said quickly.

'Then why is Cheery holding a frying pan.'

'I was cooking.'

'You don't cook.'

'I was helping Igor.'

Carrot gave up and decided to accept the majority vote for now. He tried to sit up and ended up slumped against the bottom step.

'Could you leave me and Angua alone?' he asked politely.

'Carrot, I-'

'Sure,' Vimes said, dragging Cheery with him.

She awkwardly walked over and sat down next to him. 'I didn't mean for this to happen.'

'I fell down the stairs, didn't I?'

She paused. 'Yep. But I mean coming back.'

'Why did you come back?'

She shrugged. 'I sort of...felt it. When you fell.'

He looked slightly interested. 'Really? I wonder how that works.'

'I can guess.'

'Love, I suppose,' he said absentmindedly. She gulped.

'Maybe,' she admitted.

'So, have you reconsidered?' His voice was harsh. 'After what happened?'

'Look, you knew that it was going to happen.'

He shook his head and winced. 'No, I didn't. I honestly thought you would say yes.'

'Why?'

'Because I thought you loved me.'

'I do, I do. That wasn't what I was saying no to.'

'It sort of was.'

'If I could come back and knew that I would stay, I would.'

He was shaking his head again, and seemed to be growing slightly delirious. 'Why, Angua, why would you have to leave? Why?'

'Because I didn't want to hurt you.'

'But you wouldn't be.' He looked like some hurt child. 'I wouldn't mind, if only I knew that there was some chance you might stay.'

'That's all you want? A chance?'

'Well, of course I want more. I want you to move in with me, there's a bigger room at Mrs Cake's...' His voice was growing fainter. 'Maybe have some kids, or a dog...or a cat, maybe, though you're not a cat person...we could get married, or we could not...'

Definitely delirious, Angua decided.

Carrot closed his eyes, just as if he was going to sleep.

'Mister Vimes?' she called. Immediately, he was in the room.

'Eavesdropping's rude,' she informed him.

'Whatever. Now help me carry him upstairs.'

Slowly, with several groans from Vimes about the state of his back, they managed to get Carrot into a bed in the closest room to the stairs.

She watched him for a little while, until she became aware that Vimes was still there.

'Staying?' he asked simply.

'For now.'

'How about forever?' She heard him shrug. 'Shouldn't be too hard. You heard what he said.'

'He was delirious.'

'So he was being honest, didn't have the mental capacity to lie. Not that he would lie, anyway.'

She was still staring at him. 'He wants...all those things. Marriage, kids, even a cat. And I can't give him that.'

'How do you know?'

'Well, I don't want to get married. And I don't like cats.'

'That was optional.'

'And I don't even think I can have children. I've been going out with him for four, five years and it's never happened.'

'Yes, but those pills in your top drawer probably don't help.'

'They're not what you think.'

'Aren't they?' He looked surprised. 'What else do you need suspicious looking pills for?'

'If you really must know, it's hardpad.'

'Ah. Werewolf disease.'

'Dog disease.'

'I must stop jumping to conclusions,' he said under his breath. He patted her on the shoulder. 'Don't worry. It'll happen.'

'Oh, congratulations with Sybil. I forgot to tell you.'

He shrugged. 'You were caught up in things. I don't blame you.'

Angua had taken hold of Carrot's hand, and really, really wanted to be alone. Vimes seemed to sense this.

'You can go on first watch,' he offered.

'Thanks.'

'Cheery hit him in the wrong place, apparently. Igor's moaning that he didn't get to do it.'

He span something to her, and it landed on the pillow next to Carrot, missing him by an inch. She picked it up and twirled it in her fingers.

'Are you sure?'

'Yep.'

'I mean, my brother tried to eat you.'

He sighed. 'Yes, Angua, but you're not Wolfgang. You're not your mother, or father, or anyone else. And Carrot loves _you_.'

She pinned the badge onto the front of her dress. 'All right, then.'

'I'll be back in a couple of hours,' he said, closing the door quietly behind him. As she heard the latch click, she turned back to Carrot.

'What did you hear?' she asked wearily.

His eyes shot open. 'I didn't think you knew I was awake.'

'I could tell.'

He shrugged, and raised a hand to his head. 'Look, what I said about children and all that, I didn't mean it-'

'Yes you did.'

'Well, yes, but if it doesn't happen then it's fine. We won't have lost anything.'

'Do you want to have children with me, Carrot, considering what I am? I mean, who knows what they'll be?'

He looked nonplussed. 'Who else would I be having children with?'

She sighed, and rested her head on the edge of the headboard. 'I just don't know, Carrot.'

'That's fine. You can decide later.'

'And you're okay with that?'

'Angua, if there's any chance that you'll stay I'll take it.'

She nodded. 'And if we don't get married, or we don't have kids or get a cat or a dog or whatever, that won't bother you?'

'Well, it'd be nice, but it doesn't have to happen. It's just something else to consider.'

She gripped his hand a bit tighter and he reached up to put a hand around her waist and pull her in with him. 'Angua,' he whispered, 'please don't go.'

'I won't.'

'Sure?'

'For now.'

'Okay.' He paused. 'Will you freak out if I tell you I love you?'

'I don't think so. Maybe you should try it.'

'Okay. Angua?'

'Yes?' she asked, smiling.

'I love you.'

'I love you too.'

'Two's not many.'

'Alright, I love you ten. A thousand. Infinity, how about that?'

'Well, I can't ask for any more.'

'No, you won't ask for any more.'

'That as well.'

She rested her head in the crook of his arm. 'How's your head?'

'It's better, though I still don't know how I got it.'

'Cheery whacked you over the head with a frying pan to make me come back.'

'That was nice of her,' he said absently. 'I think. Though frying pans are dangerous.'

'From what I've heard, Igor had given her lessons.'

'So they plotted together to get you back.'

'Yes.'

'I didn't think of that.'

'I'm glad to here it.'

'You wouldn't have come back if I had plotted with them,' he said accurately.

'No. That's not your style.'

'What is?'

'Oh, I don't know. Something else,' she said vaguely.

It was the dream, though, the way he was convinced that you couldn't do any wrong and you would do anything, absolutely anything not to prove him wrong. And there was more than that for her.

He kissed her forehead and she could feel him relax against her back. After a while, his breathing slowed.

She stared out of the window at the midnight black sky, and wondered if this would be the single worst decision, or the single best decision of her life.

About two hours later, just as he had planned, Vimes entered the room and saw Angua asleep, her hair splayed out over the still form of Carrot next to her. Her badge glinted dully in the tiny sliver of the moon.

'Did it work?' Cheery asked.

'Probably. For now, at least.'

'Can I go and tell Igor?'

'Yes. Stop him moping around, please.'

As she scuttled off Vimes turned to look at the pair of them, sound asleep. The moonlight, reflected off the smooth bed sheets and their skin, made them look almost ethereal.

'She's a bloody useless guard,' he muttered, closing the door.


	9. Watch

**Thanks to superster for giving me the basic idea for this oneshot :) of course, I tried to write exactly what you specified, but sort of veered off course... I'm good at that. And the first idea you proposed will be written as soon as I stop laughing at every idea that comes into my head in inappropriate situations.**

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

Nobby was slammed against the wall, his eyes wide open in terror as Angua grinned. It was a sort of grin; all her teeth were visible, for a start, but there was no indication of humour there. It was a grin that told you exactly how long you were going to live for, which was a matter of brief seconds, but you didn't really care because you would do absolutely _anything_ to make the grin go away.

Angua knew that her smile made hardened criminals want to run away, but often treated it as more of a hindrance. She didn't want to scare everyone, but she had to admit that today it was proving very useful.

Nobby was turning out to be very informative.

'So, what have you got to tell me, Nobby?' she asked casually, as if she wasn't pinning him against the wall.

He gurgled and she relaxed her grip slightly, forcing her claws to retract. It didn't do to go around assaulting your colleagues, especially when it might leave a mark.

She raised her eyebrows. 'Yes?'

Nobby gulped, but it brought his throat closer to Angua. 'Nothin',' he wheezed.

'It's full moon, Nobby.'

He gulped again. 'It's Carrot…'

'What about him?'

'Well, you know we've been actin'…sorta odd…'

* * *

It had started the week before.

More hushed voices, maybe, more people flushing and glancing away from her, a lot more people eavesdropping on her conversations with Carrot even if it was as simple as getting a signature for the pay slips when Mister Vimes forgot. Everyone seemed to be slightly more on edge when she was around, which she was used to by now; it was when they were on edge when _he_ was around that she found odd.

'Have you noticed how the rest of the Watch are being a bit weird?' she asked, walking home with him one morning.

'No,' he said, nonplussed. 'Why? Are they?'

'It's just a feeling.'

Carrot had learnt not to disregard her instincts now, not after that embarrassing conversation with Sergeant Colon where the older man kept giving him advice that he really didn't need which Angua seemed to know all about*. He didn't know why Fred kept telling him things like this; for one thing, Angua didn't need any shelving put up. Anyway, she had been acting oddly until Nobby had helpfully informed him that Colon was, in what he probably thought was a subtle way, suggesting that Carrot should propose.

He had laughed it away.

'I'll have a word with them,' he told her.

Carrot had spoken to Nobby, who wouldn't answer him, instead putting it down to Angua being a little tetchy due to it nearly being full moon. Well, Angua thought, he'd got one thing right.

Nobby would, however, answer to an irritated werewolf.

'Um, could you put me down first?' he asked. She let him fall to the floor and tried not to let her hand touch anything else.

'I saw him buyin' summat the other day,' he muttered.

'Buying what?'

He shuffled and she stepped forward again. 'Corporal…' she said warningly.

'Buying a little box, miss. One of those blue ones with posh cardboard and sprinkles.'

It took her a few minutes to decipher this, but her stomach had already sunk. 'A jewellery box, Nobby?'

'Yeah, that's what Fred said, though I didn't think that jewellery came in boxes. I thought that it all came in, like, big crates which contain small but valuable objects which people just leave lyin' about.'

'They may do at some point, _Corporal_ Nobbs, but you _buy_ them in little boxes.'

If Angua had been watching him, she would have noticed that Nobby seemed slightly perplexed, which was probably down to the introduction of this alien idea that you bought jewellery and didn't nick it off the nearest available corpse. However, she was staring off into the distance.

'Carrot's been buying jewellery?'

'Up near the Artificiers' Guild. There's a shop next to it.' Nobby sniffed. 'Big posh place, you must know it.'

She nodded. Proper jewellery, expensive. The sort of jewellery which you would never wear for fear that it could get broken or, in this city, nicked from your hand.

'Any indication of what was in the box, Nobby?'

'Weeell…'

'Nobby.'

He swallowed again. 'It looked sort of like a ring box, miss.'

'Sergeant,' she replied absently.

'Sorry, sarge. Definitely ring sized.'

'Right.'

'You know, like, littler.'

'Right.'

'And of course, I made presumptions.'

'Don't we all.'

'And so I went round and told everyone he were going to propose.'

She was silent for a very long time, trying to figure out a response which wasn't ripping off Nobby's head. She resorted to sarcasm eventually. 'Thank you, Nobby,' she said icily. 'You know, it's always nice to know that your privacy is respected in the workplace.'

Sarcasm was uncharted territory for Nobby, so he simply nodded.

'Tell Carrot to come down to Mrs Cake's when he comes off shift, will you.'

'Why, miss.'

'Why do you bloody well _think,_ Nobby?'

* * *

*Nobby again.

* * *

Angua had made herself a makeshift den out of the blankets on her bed and was curled up underneath the pile with her head facing into the mattress. The warmth enveloped her.

Ring. A bloody, bloody ring.

No wonder the Watch had been acting weirdly.

She heard a polite knock on the door and sighed, lifting her head up to look muzzily at the room. Only one person could knock and make it sound like an honest knock, and you knew full well that the owner of this knock would never read the papers upside down or nick any smokes because Mister Vimes, hypocrite that he was, had told Carrot that those things would kill you.

'You can come in.'

He entered and frowned when he saw her encased in the blankets. 'Stink bomb?' he asked, walking over and sitting down next to her.

'No.'

'What is it, then?' He lifted up the blankets, causing a cold draft to claw at her skin, then climbed in next to her.

'Nobby said you had something for me,' she said, looking into his honest eyes. Around them, the skin started to go pink as Carrot blushed and fidgeted with the covers.

'I was going to give it to you on your birthday,' he mumbled. 'I wanted it to be a surprise.'

'You can't keep much of a secret there.'

He pulled a small blue box from his pocket, which dropped glitter all over the bed, and handed it to her. It was slightly sticky where he had handled it.

'Carrot, is this what I think it is?'

'Well, I didn't tell anyone else. They shouldn't have guessed it.'

'Look, Carrot, we've disctussed-'

'Unless someone saw me buy it, but I made sure that no one was following me, and it was at night.'

Apart from the fact that Carrot was absolutely useless at concealing himself, and even worse at detecting if anyone was following him, how did he expect not to be seen at night? The Watch were pretty much the only ones out apart from the Seamstresses.

'Which jewellers are open at night?' she asked.

He seemed slightly preoccupied. 'Nobby patrols on that beat, though. He could have seen me and told you-'

'Nobby told me, yes.'

Carrot looked genuinely disappointed, which was like seeing a sad puppy. 'I didn't think it was much, I just thought it might be useful for you.'

Her eyes narrowed as she glanced back down at the box in her hand, which was turning her palm silver already. She clicked it open and stared at the glimmer of gold.

'Do you like it? I thought you'd be able to use it a lot.'

It was a watch, but not an ordinary one. There was one white side and one black side - currently it was nearly fully showing the white side - which, she guessed, turned once every twenty eight days. It was set into gold.'

'Angua?'

She looked up at him, smiling nervously. 'It's beautiful, Carrot.'

'I had it made by one of the Artificers. They said it should always be accurate.'

But she was always accurate. Full moon wasn't just something you could see, it was something you could sense, like the feeling of someone laughing at you behind your back. It was a shivering in your bones, the feeling of the hair on the back of your neck rising, a constant irritability which she knew she had taken out on Carrot before now.

She picked the watch out of its case and span it gently on its chain, thin gold rings intertwining.

'I thought you could hand it on your collar,' he said shyly. 'Next to the badge, so you'll always know when it's full moon.'

She couldn't bring herself to tell him. It must have cost him a fortune; gold and time and intricate clockwork didn't come cheap. And it was beautiful, the black and white faces gleamed inside a circle of warm yellow decorated with the phases of the moon.

He took it from her and clipped it next to the badge, and in the mirror she saw how it gleamed next to the tarnished copper.

Try as she might to smile, she couldn't help the tiny flicker of disappointment.

* * *

It was later. The watch was handing from her collar as Angua paced the streets, her head swimming from a peppermint stink bomb some idiot had set off in the middle of Sator Square.

'Nothing,' she said after changing and returning to Vimes. 'Can't get any trace of him.'

'None?'

'Well, I've got one thousand traces of peppermint. Which one would you like me to follow first?'

He turned from where he was examining the bloodstains on the walls. 'Do you mind if I make a personal enquiry?' he asked.

'You've never asked before.' She knelt down and looked at the blood. 'His.'

'Of course it's his, it was right next to the body. Well, he did splash a bit. Anyway, who got you the watch?'

'Carrot.'

'Now, I would be a fool not to listen to the rumours circling the Watch House, so I gather that most people thought it was a ring. According to Nobby, so did you. It came in a pretty box anyway, he showed it to me, and so you would have presumed it was a ring and freaked out.'

She stayed silent.

'You thought he was going to propose.'

'Yes.'

'Leave the body, Angua, don't pretend that you're trying to figure something out. It was a clear suicide. He insulted Lilywhite's mother, may she rest in hell, that's what happens.'

She stood up and sighed. 'Thanks for the personal enquiry, sir,' she muttered bitterly.

'Must have come as a bit of a relief, then,' he said, turning round to start to walk back.

'Not really,' Angua said quietly, to herself. He pretended not to hear.


	10. Song Fics

**Okay, so** **there's the challenge where you put your iPod onto shuffle and write a drabble for each of the ten songs which come up. **

**I have broken every rule in the book. For one thing, I picked 20 songs and did the best ones, and I wrote 200 word drabbles. Still, who's going to complain?**

**(don't you dare)**

**Anyway, here you go. Enjoy :)**

* * *

**16. Dirty Paws - Of Monsters and Men**

She looked over at Carrot, looking so…human.

Oh, she _looked_ human, just about checked out as one. Two legs, two arms, hair on her head only, one bra instead of three. Slightly sharpened incisors, hair which was far too thick to ever do anything with, oddly coloured eyes - light brown with these odd flecks of blue - her fingernails had a tendency to lengthen when she was annoyed…

But he was human. Excessively so; she could see the blood pumping underneath the pale, freckled skin on his wrist with dreadful clarity, his eyes were just one plain colour, fingernails worn away from cleaning his armour. You couldn't ever imagine him ever, even with all the muscles, being an animal. But she was forever walking on the edge, looking over occasionally and tipping towards blood and fur and teeth because it was simpler, until she grabbed hold of the ledge and remembered how useful opposable thumbs were.

Was it bad, though, sometimes, that she missed that simplicity, or that she wished that she could see it in him sometimes? He was so careful, so understanding, so much so that it made her sick.

She just wanted someone who would understand.

**11. Filthy/Gorgeous - Scissor Sisters**

The man's eyes flickered up and down and Carrot flushed.

He was aware that Sergeant Angua, even now when most people should respect the uniform, attracted the odd stare from men who appreciated a pretty girl in uniform, and accepted the fact that if she noticed, which she rarely did, that man would be torn to pieces quite literally, but he still got a bit awkward when it happened.

It wasn't that he didn't find her attractive. He did, far too much so sometimes and she was wearing short gold sparkly dresses from the Pink PussyCat Club which showed a lot of leg and didn't hide much in the way of the top department (and it said a lot about Carrot that he thought of it as the 'top part'). He just didn't like it when other people did.

He blinked as he saw the unfortunate man's head being held under Angua's arm with a shield shaped badge being pushed into his vision.

'See it?' she demanded. The man gurgled. 'Don't let me catch you doing that again.'

The man fled and she turned back to Carrot tiredly. 'Bastard tried to feel me up.'

No, he had nothing to fear.

**7. Beauty Of The End - Paloma Faith**

They said that Ankh-Morpork never slept, but it definitely got a little quieter around now, when it was too late for the night shifts to start but too early for the marketers; only thieves and policemen slunk in the shadows and she was well practiced at avoiding them. They were practically the same thing, had the same minds, had the same ways.

She was digressing, trying to summon the courage to put one foot in front of the other and carry on walking, but her brain was on autopilot anyway. The cobblestones rattled under her feet but she didn't feel them, only heard the sounds in some dim corner free from the screaming which forever watched the world with apathy. She told herself that that was where the cynicism came from.

Leaving. One foot in front of the other.

She looked up at a street lamp, helpfully lit by one of the watch on their beat. It glowed a dull orange as the flame gave up its struggle against the fog, but in a little part of her mind it was ginger.

'Oh, fuck it,' she murmured. A couple of thieves looked at her oddly.

She turned around and walked back.

**1. Somewhere Only We Know - Keane**

Oh, she knew he would never leave the city. Never in her wildest dreams would he pack up and leave just for her, just because she couldn't cope with all the smells and the people and the chaos and because, if she was being completely honest, she was jealous of the city. Jealous of a goddamn city.

But maybe it started here and now, their private place.

Cheery had taken the dresses back, though Angua knew that a few would have made their way into the dwarf's hands, and she had carried on walking with Carrot, trying to shake off the disquieting feeling that he knew all along what she intended. Instead, they had tried to tidy the Museum until her head grew woozy from the faint iron tang spread across the floor.

He put his arm around her and led her out, bending down slightly so that she could lean on his shoulder. The noise of the city quietened until all she could hear was his slight breathing and the rustle of his clothes as he leaned down to kiss her briefly, not wanting anyone to see lest there were complaints.

She pulled him closer. The city be damned.

**4. AKA…What A Life! - Noel Gallagher**

She was cartwheeling, pinwheeling uncontrollably, not able to get a grip on herself, buzzing, laughing, choking, crying, smiling, grinning. All in her own head, of course; her face bore the carefully blank expression of the true copper throughout the day, or night, until she got home and stared out of the window and thanked her stars, wherever they were, that he was there, or if she was with him.

She was dizzy. He smiled and she lit up, not knowing why but not caring. He would kiss her and she would be smiling for the rest of the day, he would gently lie her down on the bed and the feel of his body against hers would make her blush like a girl, and then the bedsprings would groan and all she could feel was his hands against her skin, heat prickling up and down her back.

He would stroke her hair absently as he was doing his paperwork. They would sit on his bed and eat takeaway together or go out for lunch. It was all so…normal. It had never felt like this before and she liked it. She loved it. She loved him. Finally, there was someone there.

**13. Death And All His Friends - Coldplay**

Carrot was spun over by Wolfgang's arm, which, she noticed, still bore the scar on his elbow that she had given him at the age of ten. It was very, very important to focus on that. Otherwise she would be looking at the way Carrot's back looked out of shape as he arced through the air, the way that his arm hung limply at his side, the way that he seemed to be clenching up in pain.

He landed, right in front of her. Wolfgang had good aim.

Her legs gave way and she fell beside him, hitting her knees on the stone bridge so that pain zigzagged up her legs. Her chest tightened as she looked at his still figure, still slightly flushed with the cold and the pain, but at least he wasn't feeling anything.

Wolfgang was laughing.

He was laughing.

Her throat clenched as Mister Vimes called her name and she realised she was crying, but she kept her face blank. Damn them all. There were sounds of sobbing but she didn't know if they were hers, didn't know anything except that he wasn't dead but how close was he?

'Sergeant Angua!'

She finally raised her head.

**19. Cops and Robbers - The Hoosiers**

It was the job, running through the midnight streets after people who were far too quick for their own good, slipping on wet leaves and leaping over crates unhelpfully left in the middle of alleyways. Technically their job was to keep the peace, but neither Carrot or Angua knew what that meant anymore.

It was their life, doing this.

Persistent floaters, both of them, Vimes thought. But he couldn't exactly criticise them, the words 'pot' and 'kettle' were too appropriate, and then he would end up in an argument with himself. Still, it wasn't healthy, that level of devotion. It wasn't really as if it was Angua's decision, anyway; it was Carrot's life, so she went along with it.

One day, though, he asked her.

'You all right, Angua?'

She looked at him blankly and he regretted teaching her so well. 'Fine, sir.'

'Only I can't help noticing you've been here solidly for the last fortnight.'

He gave her the Long Stare With Associated Paperwork and she looked straight through him. 'Can't say what you mean, sir.'

He left her to it, but was slightly relieved when he walked into Carrot's room and caught them in a corner, blushing furiously.

**10. The Drugs Don't Work - The Verve**

They hadn't caught the criminal. Not precisely, as Mister Vimes said that they couldn't say that him jumping off a bridge and into the Ankh, only to be seen bobbing away slightly bloated and a lot stiller five minutes later constituted catching him, and on his travels he had stabbed five more people.

Now the Watch, or those who had been involved in the chase, were in the Bucket spending their wages on thin beer and, later on, cheap whisky. They had found themselves a helpful corner away from the more cheerful constables and were getting slowly inebriated.

After Detritus crashed onto the ground the rest of them summoned the courage to face the world.

Carrot carried Angua through the streets, pausing occasionally to adjust his hold on her so that she didn't slide onto the cobbles. She glared up at his worried chin reproachfully.

'I'm not drunk, Carrot.'

'I don't want you to fall over,' he replied, dodging a cart and hitting her head on a lamp post.

She rolled her eyes, well aware that she had only had a couple of pints and could recite Peter Piper backwards if she needed to, but at least he was warm.

**15. Set The Fire To The Third Bar - Snow Patrol**

The fire burned down slowly as they lay next to each other in front of the warmth until it was one glowing ember inside a sea of ashes dripping down into the metal tray.

They were sitting in the quiet room of the Watch House where people usually did their paperwork during the day, but during the night for the only people who lived in the Watch House now it was the one place to get warm, even if you did have to dodge piles of paperwork. Those on the night shift were out patrolling, those on the day shift were doing paperwork at home. It was almost silent in there, save the grumbling coming from Fred Colon on the duty desk.

Carrot slept. Angua stared at the glow until it slowly went out.

Home. They were finally home, free of the snow and the ice and the cold, and all she could feel was the warmth surrounding her. True, there was a slight draft from the lack of a front door, but the carpenters would be in next week, but curled up next to Carrot she didn't care at all.

Wolves never look back. Now she could look forward.

**14. Walked Her Way Down - Crowded House**

Angua walked over to him, nearly turning her ankle with the heels which she hadn't wanted to buy but were apparently compulsory at a wedding, even if it was just that of one of Fred Colon's kids. She didn't even know why they'd been invited, but it was impolite to decline an invitation.

Carrot's mouth had dropped open and she stifled a laugh.

The dress was one thing. She didn't like dresses - all the frills and the lace made her stomach turn - and had spent only ten minutes inside the dress shop with Cheery before picking up a blue thing which looked relatively nice on her and storming out, fed up with the dressmakers who kept wanting to attack her with tape measures. That then did mean that she had to spend longer in dwarf shops, where the amount of sequins made her head hurt, but at least she could just zone out.

She had tried the dress on the day before, glaring at herself critically in the mirror and wondering whether she should wear a vest underneath, but it had prompted a very interesting response from Carrot.

She looked at his face again. The dress was staying.


End file.
